


Power Gaming

by shifty_cat



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Genre Savvy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-16 07:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18517051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shifty_cat/pseuds/shifty_cat
Summary: Oracle and Queen help Joker optimize his build.





	Power Gaming

The soft golden light of late afternoon filtered through the window of Leblanc's attic. The Phantom Thieves, having just adjourned a tense meeting concerning what to do about the Akechi situation, were heading out to deal with the stress in their own ways. Ann grabbed Haru to head to the underground mall for what she referred to as "retail therapy". Ryuji was preparing for a long run to work out his frustrations. Yusuke made his way back to his studio at Kosei, muttering something about "capturing the sublime existential anguish of their dilemma". Futaba ran back to the Sakura household, extremely excited about something. Makoto remained, sitting on the couch in Akira's room, writing and rewriting plans in one of several notebooks while she waited for him to finish making coffee for them. They had plans to head to Jinbocho to search for any materials on subterfuge that could be of use, then to Tsukishima for a combination strategy meeting and dinner date over monjayaki.

The sudden appearance of a head of long orange hair over the edge of the stairwell, accompanied by an excited chirp of "just the Queen I was looking for!" startled Makoto out of her concentration. She let out a little "eep!" and raised a fist to her chest to calm her admittedly fairly frazzled nerves. "Cute!" Futaba giggled as she practically skipped up the remaining steps and over to the table in front of her. 

Makoto let out a deep breath and looked up at the younger girl. "Was there something you wanted to discuss, Futaba? I'm afraid I won't be staying for too much longer."

Futaba patted the air dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. You and Akira have some big romantic dinner planned. Well be cute dorks together later, because I'm about to Blow Your Mind!"

Makoto began to blush, then suddenly her eyes snapped open and fixed the redhead with a Niijima glare. "That's... wait, how exactly did you know what our plans were, Futaba?"

"Oracle sees all and hears all." The hacker replied with a mischievous grin.

"I believe I told you to remove your bugs from Akira's room." While she didn't raise her voice, Makoto managed to convey a dire threat with her even tone.

Futaba raised her hands defensively at the older girl's intensifying glare. "Don't worry. I turn them off whenever you two... do whatever it is you do up here together." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Makoto let out a resigned groan and rested her forehead in the palm of her hand. "What exactly was it you wanted to 'blow my mind' with, Futaba?" she asked, her mounting irritation evident.

Futaba rummaged through her satchel and pulled out an enormous book, bound in what appeared to be blue velvet, then dropped it on the table with a loud thump. "Ta-da!"

Makoto spun the tome to face her, her eyes widening as she read the title. "Compendium Personae? Futaba, is this...?"

"Heck yeah it is!" She cheered before Makoto finished asking, lifting her skinny fists like antennas to heaven. "I pestered Akira for like a week to get me a copy after he told us about those weird twins!"

With reverent trepidation, Makoto opened the Compendium, leafing through the first few pages until she found the index, running her finger down the long list of names, then flipping to the entry on Scathach. "Historical origin, strengths and weaknesses, abilities learned, and fusion recipes to and from each." She looked up at Futaba, both of them beaming. "Oracle, this is incredible!"

Futaba began hopping from one foot to the other in her excitement. "I knew if anyone could appreciate how cool this is, it'd be you, Queen!" She slammed both hands on the table and looked Makoto straight in the eye. "You know what this means, right?"

Makoto nodded and pumped a fist, a confident smile spreading across her features. "We've got work to do!"

 

"Obviously, Joker would want to be able to cover as many weaknesses as possible. The two primary approaches would appear to be keeping a range of different Personae, each with access to a different element, or a few that each cover several. Focused element users would have the added benefit of opening space for passive damage boosts, while more versatile casters would allow for more slots in his roster for utility options." Makoto had a fresh notebook open next to the Compendium, and was writing furiously in it while Futaba sat across from her, perched precariously on her seat as she tapped away at her laptop.

"Hm, hm, hmm. I don't think we necessarily need to be that hard and fast on choosing one approach over the other," the younger girl replied, looking over the top of her screen. "The optimal pick may be more situational. Try focusing more on individually strong or useful Personas, and we'll see what we can put together from there."

"Personae," Makoto corrected her, nodding in agreement at her broader point. She went back to flipping through the tome until she came upon an intriguing entry. "Aha! I think we've got one. Atropos, Fortune arcana. On her own, she learns Mazionga with electric boost, and eventually Concentrate (which we need ASAP). But fusing her from Lachesis would also give her ice boosted Mabufula, covering two elements quite effectively. She also learns Mediarama; between Morgana and myself we generally have healing covered, but giving Joker the option could certainly prove useful in a pinch."

"Sounds awesome!" Futaba hopped down from her chair and came around the table to examine the entry. "No offense to Fox and Skull, but they kinda suck at magic, so having a strong electric and ice caster would be sweet."

"Looks like monja's off for tonight." Makoto and Futaba, huddled over the Compendium, looked up to see Akira standing at the top of the stairs, a smirk on his face and a tray with three mugs of coffee in his hands. Makoto began to apologize for the change of plans as he walked over to the table and set the tray down between them, but he raised a hand and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I figured this would happen the moment I gave Futaba that book. We can go out some other time." He took a seat next to her on the couch and playfully nudged her with his shoulder. "Besides, you know how much I love to see my Queen at work," he whispered, causing a light dusting of pink on Makoto's cheeks.

"Bleh! Get a room, you two," Futaba jeered, making exaggerated gagging faces at the couple.

Akira raised an eyebrow at her. "Need I remind you that this is, in fact, my room?"

She stuck out her tongue at him. "Then get a room that I'm not in. I have a low tolerance for mushy sweetness, all this fluff is gonna put me into shock or something."

Makoto stifled a giggle at the exchange, then cleared her throat to regain some semblance of order, tapping a finger on the open Compendium. "If we've gotten that out of our systems, might I suggest that we get down to business?" Her companions nodded. "First off: Joker, since you're the most experienced in this field, what overarching strategy have you been using for fusions thus far?"

Akira gave her a look like a deer caught in headlights. "Ummmm..."

Makoto and Futaba shared a look of disbelief before both turned to Akira with disapproving frowns. "You didn't have a strategy? You have a method of attaining nearly limitless power and you've just been winging it?" The older girl chided.

Futaba was more blunt. "Shaking my SMH, freaking noob."

Akira shrugged defensively. "I recruit Personas ('Personae,' Makoto corrected with a sigh), and when my roster's full I look through the Compendium to see if I can make anything that looks interesting. I mean, it's gotten us this far, hasn't it? Besides, that's why I have two brilliant ladies on the team who are far better at the whole strategy thing than me." He finished with a sheepish, conciliatory smile.

Futaba grinned. "Fuhuhu, flattery will get you everywhere." Makoto groaned and laid her head on the Compendium.

When she had summoned the will to continue, Makoto raised herself from the book with a sigh. "Fine. It's no use worrying about how things should have been done in the past, although I do wish you had involved us sooner. For now, let's focus on what we can do going forward." She flipped through the Compendium to the entry on Atropos and motioned for Akira to look. "This is the first significant Persona to jump out at us as particularly useful. Multiple strong elemental attacks plus impressive utility."

Akira's eyes widened as he read through the entry. "Wow, this is really good! What's the level? 39, perfect! We'll need to fight with the Lachesis a bit before she learns Ice Boost, but my Fortune Confidant should be high enough that it won't take too much. I should be able to fuse her by the end of our next Mementos trip." He pulled a sheet of paper from his bag and wrote down the recipe.

Makoto raised a finger to her chin in thought. "I've actually been wondering: what exactly does the 'level' next to each entry mean? Clearly it's a measure of a Persona's strength, but it seems more specific than that."

"Let me explain!" Futaba interjected, spinning around her laptop to reveal the names of the Phantom Thieves with a series of bar graphs next to each. "You ever play an RPG?" Makoto gave her a confused look. "Never mind. I'll show you Nocturne some time. All about strategy and planning. You'll love it. It even has a cool post-apocalyptic setting. But anyway, you know how sometimes after a battle you feel like you just got stronger? That's your Persona leveling up. The more you fight, the more experience you gain, the more power and abilities you get." She pointed to the entry for Queen/Anat on the screen. "You and Joker are currently the highest level, at 42, since you're pretty much always on the frontline. Skull and Panther are next highest, and so on."

Akira nodded in confirmation. "Each of my Personas," he caught himself with an apologetic glance at Makoto, "sorry, Personae, also levels up individually, and I can't fuse anything that starts at a higher level than me, although the twins have hinted that they may change that at some point. So for now, 42 is the cap."

Makoto took a moment to process this information. "That's all very useful, thank you both. So we'll focus on Personae that are at or near level 42, as they're likely to be the strongest. Aside from that, are there any specific needs you can think of, Joker?"

Akira gestured to Makoto's notes, which she handed to him, and leafed through them. "I always try to have something that can deal physical damage, since we already have a promising caster. Shiki-Ouji's been carrying me since Kaneshiro, but his power's kind of tapering off. Something with Swift Strike most likely."

Makoto nodded and flipped through a few pages of the Compendium until something caught her eye. "Hecatoncheires, Hanged Man arcana. Begins with Swift Strike and Tarukaja, and eventually learns Charge."

Akira leaned over to examine the entry with a broad smile. "That's actually perfect! The twins want me to make one of those for these tasks they keep giving me to 'aid in my rehabilitation'. Any chance we could fuse one with Masukunda?"

Makoto rifled through the pages, cross-referencing the potential fusions, then tapped her finger on the book triumphantly. "Thoth and Choronzon, which would also give him Pulinpa to extort unlimited money from Mementos targets!"

"Have I told you lately that I love you, Queen?" He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, causing Makoto to blush profusely and Futaba to make a face as though suddenly violently ill.

"Huh, what are you guys doing here, Joker? I thought you and Queen were heading out tonight." They were interrupted by a sleepy voice from the top of the stairs, accompanied by a suspiciously meow-like yawn.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up, Mona." Akira laughed, then gestured to the book lying between the three of them. "Impromptu strategy meeting. Come on, hop up and join us."

As Morgana leapt onto the table, his eyes went wide as he noticed the Compendium. "Wait, what is that?" He whispered in shock.

"A book of all the Personas." Futaba replied, shooting a cheeky grin at Makoto, who rolled her eyes. "Joker got it from those weird twins he was telling us about."

"I... recognize this. It feels like I've seen it before, like I should definitely remember it from somewhere." The gentlecat thief had an expression between confusion and awe as he examined the tome. He shook his head sadly. "Damn it, I can't remember. I know it's important, and it feels like it's connected to where I came from, but it's like there's something blocking me from remembering how."

Makoto tapped her chin, deep in thought. "We'll have to keep that in mind as we work to get your memories back, Morgana, but for now there isn't much we can do about it. Perhaps Joker can talk to those twins about this the next time he sees them. For now, we should focus on getting as much value out of this resource as we can before we have to call it a night." She checked the time on her phone, then turned to Akira. "It's getting a bit late. Is there anything else we should look for before we adjourn?"

Akira thought for moment. "Maybe an emergency healer, something that can help when a teammate's knocked out, or when we need to fully focus on surviving."

Makoto nodded and went back to flipping through the Compendium. "Daisoujou, Hierophant arcana. Learns Diarahan, and fusing him from Unicorn would give him Samarecarm as well. Also gains boosted Makouga, and Samsara, which appears to be a unique instant kill bless attack."

"Sounds promising. We can work more on this next time, but you should head out before the last train. Want me to walk you to the station?" Akira stood and stretched, then offered a hand to Makoto.

"That sounds lovely," she replied with a smile, blushing slightly as she took his hand.

"You wanna come to my place and watch some anime?" Futaba asked Morgana, who was still staring intently at the Compendium.

"Yeah, I guess so," the feline responded absentmindedly. "That One Punch guy was pretty funny."

**Author's Note:**

> BONUS CONTENT
> 
> "Jeez, Queen, you really are a natural at this," Futaba hummed with a tone of admiration as she surveyed Makoto's voluminous notes. "You sure you never played any RPGs before."
> 
> Makoto tapped a finger to her chin. "Hmm, now that you mention it, there was one that I quite enjoyed when I was younger. Have you ever heard of Persona 4?"
> 
> Futaba's eyes lit up. "Heard of it!? It's only one of my all time favorites!" She lowered her voice to a serious, almost conspiratorial tone. "For real though, the important question: who's Best Girl? We'll both go on 3, k? Ready? 1, 2, 3"
> 
> "Chie!" They exclaimed in unison, both beaming as they high-fived.
> 
> "I love her dedication to justice and strong desire to protect the weak," Makoto continued happily.
> 
> "I love that she can literally kick a tank into space!" Futaba replied, awkwardly attempting a crane kick.
> 
> Makoto smiled sheepishly. "I... enjoyed that aspect of her character as well."
> 
> Futaba broke into a mischievous grin. "Yeah, I bet you did, Miss 'Fist of Justice'." She giggled as Makoto began to blush. "I always felt a little bad dating her though, since she obviously belongs with Yukiko."
> 
> Makoto's eyes widened, as though she had just had a religious experience. "Oh my god, you're right. How did I never think of that before?"
> 
> Futaba put an arm around Makoto's shoulder and stood on her tip-toes to almost whisper. "Oh, Queen, wait 'til I show you my fanfics." She threw her hands up in excitement. "Twin Dragons, ride or die! Give us that Good Lesbian Content, Atlus, you cowards!"


End file.
